The past two days have been a fun change of pace from my normal routine. Thursday and Friday I was a guest speaker for photo 1 students at Fayetteville High School about photography in general and my journey. I only had 1.5 hours with each class, so I felt like I was really rushed to tell them a lot of things. Truthfully, I could have talked to them for several more hours if they had let me. I had fun and I hope they did as well.
Being a Guest Speaker
With photo 1 students, you’re never going to know what to expect. It’s an intro class, so you will have some that are actually interested in the subject matter and some that are there just to get a credit. I’d say it was about 50/50. The kids didn’t seem that interested in the technical aspect of it, but that’s probably because we couldn’t get up and practice it. If I had more time, I would have let them go out and try some things. The kids did seem more interested in the life and business side of a photographer, which I think is good because there are a lot of misconceptions about being a professional photographer.
My favorite part of the class, and the students as well, was teaching them how to remove things in Photoshop. This is something I do on a daily basis, so I figured it would be a useful and important skill to show them. I basically showed them up on the screen how to remove things using a few different tools. I then gave them some photos and let them try. I was pretty impressed with how quickly some of them picked it up. Others were more interested in just goofing off and doing weird things. Either way, most of them seemed interested in Photoshop, so I’m good with that.
The photo 1 classes only last a semester, so there will be a new group after Christmas. I really did enjoy being back in the classroom and talking about something I’m passionate about. I hope I’ll get to come back to Fayetteville High School again to be a guest speaker, and I also hope I get a chance to visit some of the other surrounding schools as well. If anyone has a connection or is interested, just let me know.
